It May Be Raining

Chapter Three

More Visitors

"Now it seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table..."

In the sunny and well-kept garden behind the Dursley house, Harry was at work trimming his aunt Petunia´s rose bushes. Anni sat in the grass nearby and talked to Harry while he finished his task. "So is it true that you attend some special school for incurably criminal boys, or was uncle Vernon just pulling my leg?" she questioned. Before Harry could answer in the negative, she added quickly with an excited expression, "Did you finally get tired of all of Dudley´s crap and give him the beating of his life?" Harry laughed. It was clear that Annihadn´t believed a word their uncle had said. "No," Harry answered. "Actually, I attend Hog-." Harry paused mid-sentence. He thought he heard a whisper in the rose bush, like some one trying to get his attention. He listened.

"Harry."

He heard it this time. There was no mistake.

He had the horrible thought that the mischievous house-elf, Dobby, had returned to the garden to "protect Harry," which meant "make trouble for Harry."

"What did you say?" Anni had not caught the words of the half-sentence Harry had uttered when he became distracted.

"Huh?" Harry mumbled, not listening to her.

He peered into the bushes, but saw no sign of the house-elf, or anyone for that matter. He perched on the tips of his toes to peek over the low garden wall. He saw three heads, all with the same shocking red hair. There were Weasleysin the garden.

Anni had left her place in the grass and had joined Harry at the wall. Harry, not noticing that she had, in like manner, discovered the visitors, was deciding what to do when, he heard her voice cry, "Oy, who are you? I´m Anni. Are you friends of Harry´s? I didn´t think you had any friends Harry!"

Harry turned slightly red as his cousin carried on excitedly. Fred, George, and Ron were startled by the curly haired girl who spoke rapidly. As she continued excitedly, they smiled knowingly at each other.

"Who´s your friend Harry?" George asked, grinning at Harry.

Harry stammered, "Er, she´s my cousin."

Fred and George smirked. "Wow, Dudley, you´ve changed." Fred sniggered.

"Dudley! Do I look like that fat, stupid git to you?" Anni retorted, feigning annoyance.

"I´m Fred and this is George," exclaimed Fred, clearly amused with Harry´s companion.

"And this is our Ickle Ronikins," cooed George, rumpling his little brother´s hair. Ron looked agitated.

"Geroff!" He shoved George´s hand away.

"This is my best friend, Ron," Harry added his own introduction to that of Fred and George sensing Ron´s embarrassment. "What are you three doing here?" Harry quickly inquired.

"We couldn´t let you spend an entire summer without seeing a Weasley, now could we?" George answered.

"It was Hermione´s idea to come and visit you," added Ron. "Er, we won´t get you into trouble, will we Harry?" Ron sounded concerned.

"Not if my aunt and uncle don´t find out," Harry shrugged. "Hermione´s here?" he added glancing around, expecting to see his bushy-haired friend close by.

"Yeah, she and Ginny are across the street. "Oy, Ginny, Hermione!"

Hermione and Ginny stepped out from behind a bush and made their way over to their friends.

"Hi, Harry! Hi, er..." Hermione stammered. She thought she recognized the girl standing next to Harry.

"Hermione, this is my cousin, Anni, and..." but he was interrupted before he could conclude the introductions.

"Did you say Hermione?" Anni questioned excitedly appraising the bushy-brunette. "Hermione Granger?"

"Yes," replied Hermione. "You look awfully familiar. Do I know you?" She inquired of the girl who recognized her.

"You don´t remember me, Annabelle Bennett? We went to St. Sophia´s together." Hermione looked surprised by this revelation.

"Anni?" she asked. "I haven´t seen you in-,"

"Five years!" Anni finished for her, clearly elated. A silence passed between the group.

"Er, Anni, this is Ginny, Ron´s little sister."

Ginny blushed and looked at the ground, shuffling her feet and mumbling something they guessed was "Hello".

"So can you come with us, Harry?" Ron asked, eager to leave the vicinity of the unfriendly house at number four.

"Sure, just let me tell aunt Petunia that I´ve finished her rose bushes. Can Anni come too?" Harry added expectantly.

"Sure," answered Hermione instantly as Harry ran into the house. A moment later he returned and he and Annihopped over the wall. The group proceeded down the quiet street.

"How did you all get here?" Harry asked curiously as Anni listened in, walking beside him. George answered first, turning around and treading the sidewalk backwards, "Hermione enlightened us to the Muggle transit system," he said with a smile. Harry was sure he had seen George steal a glance at Anni before turning around again, whispering to Fred beside him.

Harry wore a startled look on his face as Anni turned to him with a furrowed brow. "What´s Muggle mean?"

"Erm, I was going to fill you in before my friends showed up," Harry began.

"Huh?" Anni scrunched her nose in confusion.

"You remember when you asked me what school I go to?" Harry hesitated.

"Yeah." Anni´s look grew more serious by the second.

"Well, I go to a wizarding school." Harry had finally said it. He looked down at his shoes as he waited for Anni´s reaction. She seemed to burst with laughter as the entire group stopped to look at her.

"You´re joking, right?" She looked around at the curious faces that surrounded her. "Ha! Hey, everyone, Harry is a wizard, he goes to a special wizard school and-,"

Harry cut her off, "Shh! Anni!"

"It´s true Anni," Hermione chimed in. "We all go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and..."

Anni then cut her off. "You are a wizard too Hermione?" She doubled over with a second fit of laughter.

"Yes," Hermione said seriously. Anni stopped giggling immediately. "I left St. Sophia´s when I was nearly eleven, because I was accepted at Hogwarts. I am a witch."

"All of you?" Anni said wide-eyed.

"No." Fred and Ron said instantly. She gave them a questioning look. George elaborated, "Witches are girls, we are wizards." He gestured to himself and his brothers.

"Oh, bloody brilliant!" Anni exclaimed.

Harry gave her a weak smile. The group continued down the street.

"But you didn´t answer my question," Anni said immediately.

"What?" Harry asked.

"What´s Muggle mean?"

"Oh," said Harry instantly, "it means a person who can´t do magic. You are a Muggle."

"Hey, that´s not fair," she replied in a mock hurt tone, "I have a magic all my own." She nudged Harry, grinning widely.

Harry looked behind him and saw Hermione walking a few feet behind the group, rapidly talking to Ginny in hushed tones. He lagged behind until he was even with the two, leaving Anni to converse with Fred, George and Ron.

"How do you know Anni?" he interrupted their discussion. Ginny fell silent and looked at her feet. Hermione repeated, "We went to school together," staring at the group ahead of them. Anni was talking animatedly to Fred and Ron, as well a captivated George. All at once, they let out a roar of laughter. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued. "We were dorm mates. She was always playing pranks on me."

Yep, that sounds like Anni, Harry thought to himself.

"One time she even put green hair dye in my shampoo. It took a week to get it all out." Hermione eyed the back of Anni´s head accusingly. "It´s strange. I never thought I would see her again. She´s your cousin?" Hermione took her eyes off of Anni to look at Harry, who nodded.

"Sort of, I mean she´s Uncle Vernon´s niece..." Harry was cut off by Fred, who yelled back at the three of them,

"Green, Hermione? I bet that looked really lovely." He finished with a chuckle and turned back to Anni, just missing the venomous look that Hermione shot at him.

"I think she´s pretty," Ginny added in a quiet voice as she caught Harry´s eye. He smiled back and Ginny promptly turned a light shade of red, returning her eyes to the ground in front of her.

"Sorry about that, Hermione," Anni turned around to face her. "It was just for fun. You don´t hate me for that do you?" Annilooked imploringly at Hermione.

"No, Fred and George have done much worse. Just don´t give them anymore ideas, okay?"

"Okay," came Anni´s reply. A smile returned to Hermione´s face and Anni returned to the conversation between Ron, Fred and George.

"So really, how are you doing, Harry?" Hermione asked, a definite note of seriousness in her voice.

"Well," he thought about the pain in his scar returning and the dream he´d had. It would feel good to have the reassurance of a friend. He paused. "I had another dream, Peter was in it." He paused a second time to examine Hermione´s reaction. "And then my scar hurt."

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione´s eyes widened with horror. "Did you tell Siruis?"

"Yes and he told Dumbledore." Harry answered.

"I guess that´s not a promising sign," Hermione replied, biting her lip.

Harry watched Ginny as she trailed off into one of the perfectly manicured lawns that fronted the houses of the neighborhood. She was beckoning a fluffy tailed cat towards her.

"That´s Mr. Tuffty," he called after her as she stooped to the ground stroking the cat as it purred loudly. He had changed the subject intentionally when Hermione´s tone became foreboding. The day was too fine to waste on thoughts of Voldemort, he had decided. "This is Mrs. Figg´s house. She´s the lady that used to look after me when my aunt and uncle were out," he explained. Ginny smiled and stood up. The cat circled around her ankles for a moment before retreating to the house. The red headed girl trotted behind the group in an effort to catch up.

Once more, Harry turned his attention to the four in front of him. Their behavior had taken an interesting turn. Harry, Ginny and Hermione stopped a few feet behind the three Weasley boys and Anni as the four formed a line facing Harry´s direction. He and the other two bore similar puzzled looks as they watched them bend over backwards in crab fashion. Anni yelled, "On your mark, gentlemen, get set... go!"

The four of them scurried off in a backwards crab race, bumping and colliding with each other and giggling hysterically all the while. Harry couldn´t help but grin at them as they made a spectacle of themselves. Anni was exactly the same as Fred and George, always looking for an opportunity to pull a prank or draw attention to herself in any absurd way. He was glad that she had the chance to meet them. They would be dangerous allies with one another.

"Well now, there´s a perfect way to get an entire street full of people to stare at you!" Ginny giggled as Fred ran into a fence post and George knocked Anni off of her hands and feet. Ron was the only one to make it to the decided finishing point.

"I beat you all!" he shouted, red faced, as several passers by stopped to point and stare.

Smiling, Hermione shook her head at their childish antics, as George yelled, "Hey Harry, your cousin is a pleasure to be in company with," taking her hand and helping her to her feet. Harry watched as he bowed low.

"Why the pleasure is all mine, good sir," Anni answered with a mocking curtsey. Harry rolled his eyes.

They all started off again in the direction of downtown Little Whinning.

"So where are we going?" Harry turned to ask Hermione as Ron came up on his other side.

Before she´d had the chance to answer the question, Ron said, "We are taking you out for your birthday," grinning at Harry, "did you get my package?"

Harry nodded, "Yep, I´m sure Filch will enjoy them just as much," he said returning a mischievous grin as Hermione scoffed.

"Try not to lose too many points for Gryffindor this year, you two."

The seven of them seated themselves around a small table on a sidewalk under the awning of an ice-cream parlor.

"Order anything you like, I´m treating for Harry´s birthday," Hermione announced to the crowded table.

After placing all of their orders the waiter whisked away into the shop, leaving them to their own conversations. Fred, George and Anni were engrossed in what appeared to be a discussion of trade secrets by the way each would burst out laughing in turn and making loud noises like an explosion, catching several curious glances from other tables.

Hermione and Ginny were busy surveying the ice-cream parlor and the charming shop fronts of the small town, as Ron gave Harry a play-by-play of his last Quidditch practice session with Fred and George.

"...and, Harry, it was brilliant!" Ron´s eyes lit up as he relived the moment of glory. "I swung around on my broom and... Wham!" He slammed both of his palms flat on the table making the waiter jump as he handed a large waffle cone to Ginny. "Knocked it right out of the scoring area with the tail of my broom."

"Oliver couldn´t have done better himself, baby brother," Fred interjected encouragingly as Ron dug into the sundae in front of him.

Hermione turned from her conversation with Ginny and snapped at Ron for using words such as Quidditch, flying and brooms. "Someone might overhear you," she argued.

"No one´s listening to us," Ron snapped back. "Go back to your boring conversation with Ginny and stop interrupting ours."

Ginny quickly looked down at her ice-cream cone with an almost hurt expression. Ron turned his attention to his own ice cream.

Knowing how arguments between Ron and Hermione could escalate into blazing rows, Harry prayed that a change of subject would end this scene before it had time to progress.

Such a distraction came when Anni shrieked, "God, I would love to get my hands on that cat!" She was making a strangling motion with her hands. Harry assumed that she was talking about Mrs. Norris, the beloved pet of Mr. Filch. No doubt Fred and George were filling her in on the evils of the duo. There wasn´t a student at Hogwarts that did not have the urge to give her an almighty kick when she lurked through the vast halls of the school. Several eyebrows rose as they laughed uncontrollably.

"You guys! Shhh!"Hermione hissed across the table, looking around to see if anyone was staring.

"Did you get the book I sent you?" Hermione asked after a moment of silence on their side of the table, the chatter on the other end seemed interminable. "I thought it would help, you know, we´ll have a lot of studying to do in the fall term."

Ron interrupted, rolling his eyes, "Hermione, will you shut up for once about the OWL´s?"

"I was talking to Harry. Besides, you could do with a bit of studying, you know? You might..."

Ron interrupted again, "It´s summer holiday!" He pronounced these words slowly with emphasis on holiday.

"It´s never too early to start," Hermione retorted.

"When are you ever going to lighten up? It´s going to be worse this year since you´ve been named Prefect." Ron was interrupted, this time by Harry.

"You were made Prefect, Hermione?" he asked as she nodded and smiled.

"What are OWL´s?" Anni chimed in as Hermione turned again to converse with Ginny.

"They are assessment tests," Harry began to explain as Ron added, "big, awful tests," "that we are due to take this year," Harry continued, disregarding Ron´s amendment to his explanation.

"Why are they called OWL´s?" Anni scrunched up her nose and giggled at the name.

"Ordinary Wizarding Levels," Fred replied through a mouthful of whipped cream and fudge.

Lighthearted conversation filled the short time that it took for the group to return to the Dursley´s. Stopping at the driveway, Harry said goodbye to Ron and Fred and slightly blushed as Hermione pecked him on the cheek. Ginny blushed in turn as Harry said goodbye to her.

Anni was lingering a few feet behind with George. Harry distinctly heard the words "I´ll just get your address from Harry." Annicaught his eye and slightly colored. Harry returned his attention to the others as they made their way back up the street. Harry returned to the house with a quietly grinning Anni.

***

"And where have you two been all day?" Aunt Petunia´s shrill voice greeted Harry and Anni as soon as they had opened the door.

"Erm, we..." Harry stammered, but Anni chimed in cheerfully "Harry and I went for a walk. I forgot how pleasant this neighborhood is!" Harry was impressed. Anni knew how to handle any situation.

"Well, you had better go upstairs and get cleaned up for dinner." Aunt Petunia sounded sufficiently soothed by Anni´s praises. They both made their way to the stairs. "And do something about that hair!" Aunt Petunia gave Harry a disapproving glare. They continued to climb the stairs.

Harry opened the door to his room. Anni followed him. Hedwig was still asleep in her opened cage on Harry´s desk. Harry went to the mirror hanging on the door of the wardrobe. He tried his best to smooth out his unruly hair to no avail. Anni walked over to the desk and cooed at the sleeping owl.

"You are so pretty. You´re magical as well, I suppose." She smirked at Harry. He laughed.

"Actually, she is." Anni looked only mildly surprised, as if she was almost expecting that answer. "I got her as a birthday present from a friend when I started school at Hogwarts. Owls are very useful pets, you know. They can deliver letters for you."

"Deliver letters?" Anni sounded skeptical. She continued to stroke Hedwig as the owl gently clicked her beak at the strange visitor.

"Yeah, that´s how wizards send mail." Harry, who had given up further attempts at taming his hair, went over to the bed and plopped down. Anni, still sitting at the desk, reached over and picked up the book Hermione had given him for his birthday.

"So this is the book she gave you?" she asked, looking amused. "She certainly hasn´t changed a bit," she said, leafing through the book. She examined a picture on one of the pages. The figures on the page were actually moving.

"Wow, this is amazing, Harry" Anni squealed with delight. Harry looked at the page and saw an apparently bored teacher lecturing a bunch of students who looked even more bored.

"That´s nothing," he said as he reached for Flying with the Cannons. As he slid the book off of the desk, a small object fell to the floor.

"What´s this?" Anni said as she picked up the object.

"What´s what?" Harry glanced over while thumbing through the book for a picture of tiny wizards in orange robes zooming in and out of the frame on tiny brooms.

"It´s a photograph," she said, examining it. Harry snapped the book shut.

"Who are these three people, Harry?" Anni inquired, clearly amused by the antics of the subjects. Harry walked over to where she was sitting, and looking over her shoulder, he pointed out the persons in the photo.

"That one with the lighter hair was one of my professors at Hogwarts, and that one" Harry pointed to a mischievous-looking, but handsome young man "he´s my godfather, Sirius. And him," Harry pointed to the man with the rumpled black hair and round glasses "he´s my father."

"Your father?" Anni looked intently at the picture. "He was a wizard too?"

"Yeah, this picture was taken while he was a student at Hogwarts." Harry gazed fondly at the photo.

"You look just like him, Harry!" Anni hadn´t been the first to tell him this, but he enjoyed hearing it again, all the same.

"Was your mother a wizard as well?" she questioned Harry.

"A witch, yes." Harry smiled.

"Why isn´t Petunia a witch, then?"

He couldn´t help laughing at the question. "I don´t know. There are lots of witches and wizards who come from Muggle--I mean non-magical families." Harry explained. "Hermione is the only one in her family who is a witch" he added.

"Are you two ready for dinner?" a slightly annoyed voice reached them from downstairs.

"We´d better go down before Aunt Petunia gets angry," Anni suggested.

"I´d better put this stuff away before she finds out I´ve smuggled it in here. I´m not allowed to have any, you know, magical stuff up here. It´s usually locked up in the cupboard under the stairs." As he explained, Harry made a stack of the books littering the desk and shoved them under the bed. Anni watched as Harry attached Ron´s letter to the now wide-awake Hedwig and sent her on her way.

"Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would kill me if they knew I had told you about any of this." Harry felt slightly nervous.

"I´m not telling" she assured him as they both joined the rest of the Dursleyfamily downstairs.

The two appeared in the kitchen only moments after Petunia had called for them. Exchanging knowing glances at each other, they took their respective places at the table. Anni was placed between Harry and Dudley. Five years had not been long enough to make Anni forget Dursley family dinner conversation. This usually consisted of Petunia and Vernon criticizing Harry or his dead parents between bites of food occasionally punctuated with over-exuberant praise of Dudley, or Duddykins to be more exact.

Anni braced herself for another such conversation. "How was your day at work, dear?" Petunia asked her husband while heaping potatoes onto Dudley´s already full plate.

"Fine" Vernon grunted, shoving food into his large mouth.

Looking for another topic to speak on, as the last attempt had gotten her nowhere, she turned to Harry and began to gripe. "I thought I told you to do something about that hair."

"I did," came Harry´s defense.

His uncle cut in. "Honestly, boy, the way you keep your appearance, you look like a bloody homeless-" Vernon was cut off by a small squeak that came from Dudley. Anni had apparently kicked his pudgy shin underneath the table as he sniggered at Harry´s berating.

"Oh, sorry, Dudley" Anni said in an angelic voice, feigning innocence under her aunt and uncle´s reproachful stares. "I didn´t mean to kick you." She smiled sweetly as Dudley inched his chair away from her.

Petunia opened her mouth to say something in defense of her Dudders, but was cut off by Vernon´s loud voice.

"Next time don´t come to the table if you can´t bother to look half-way presentable" he said, his voice lowering, he was obviously losing steam. The conversation between the two took a turn to a big deal that Vernon had landed that afternoon at work. Harry tuned their voices out and ate in silence, watching every now and then as Anni shot Dudley menacing looks while his mother wasn´t watching.

When the meal was finished and the dishes cleared away, Harry and Anniretreated once again to the smallest bedroom at the top of the stairs.

"So Hermione..." Anni´s voice had trailed off, expecting to get a reaction from Harry as he twisted the doorknob and entered the room.

"Hermione what?" He had no idea where that came from or what Anni had meant by it.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Anni asked in a teasing tone.

"No!" Harry answered quickly. "Why does everyone think she´s my girlfriend?" The thought annoyed him. "I actually think that Ron fancies her," he added, hoping to turn the conversation from himself. The opinion he expressed, though, was his honest one. On several occasions, he had witnessed Ron´s blatant jealousy toward Victor Krum, Hermione´s interest, as far as Harry could tell. One time Ron even went so far as to dismember his miniature model of the world famous Quidditch Seeker. His arm was found next to Harry´s bed in their dorm at school. Ron had quickly changed from Krum´s number one fan to his hostile enemy in a matter of days.

"Did you notice the way they would argue back and forth about every little thing?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes as he took a seat at his desk. Annisat on the bed.

"Ron, he´s sweet. Hermione seems a little too bossy for him, though." Harry laughed at this.

"It didn´t used to be this bad, Ron´s just jealous because Hermione went with someone else to the, er, dance we had at school last Christmas."

"Oh yeah?" Anni asked with interest. Harry nodded. This conversation was taking a decidedly girly turn. He knew if he didn´t find another topic of conversation, Anniwould be dragging out his secret crushes. He quickly thought of other things to say.

"So..." Harry was cut off by Anni, who seemed eager to learn more about this "er, dance" that had taken place last Christmas.

"And who was the lucky little witch that accompanied Mr. Potter?" Annisaid with mock importance.

"Parvati." Harry let out a breath "Parvati Patil."

This conversation was taking a seriously wrong turn.

"What kind of name is that?" Anni scrunched up her nose.

"Indian, I think. Want to see how Quidditch is played?"

"Wait a minute Harry, dear, I am not finished grilling you."

"I don´t fancy Parvati," Harry snapped quickly, anticipating the next question Anni would ask.

"Okay, fine." She held up her hands in resignation. "So now, what is Quidditch?" As she asked this, Harry was crawling under the bed. He came back out with a large book, Flying with the Cannons. Anni took it and opened to a page with two moving wizards in orange robes and one in yellow and black.

"That is so neat how all of these pictures move!" Anni exclaimed, still fascinated by them. "Our, what is it..." She put her finger to her mouth and thought a moment. "Muggle, that´s it, our Muggle photographs just don´t seem all that interesting compared to this." She pointed at a picture of an orange robed Seeker who performed a flawless Wronski Feint.

After a play-by-play of every Quidditch game Harry had ever seen or participated in, Anni got up and stretched her legs.

"Oh my," she said, looking at the alarm clock. "We´ve been talking for nearly three hours." She giggled and made her way over to the door.

"Hey, Anni" Harry said almost reluctantly.

"Yeah?" She turned around as she opened the door.

"I´m glad your here." Harry looked up from his feet to see his cousin smiling warmly at him.

"I am too, Harry. Hope you had a nice birthday." And with that, she closed the door and made her way across the hall to the guest bedroom.

Harry lay awakethinking about how his friends had surprised him, how well they got on with Anni, but most of all, he thought about how easy Anni was to talk to, especially when it came to the wizarding world. He was glad that she had taken all of this so well. "But, then again," he thought, "nothing much ever surprised Anni."

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